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The MSP Legal Update is published as needed by the Office of the Director. The Legal Update is intended to inform Michigan's police officers of recent changes in the law. Although the information provided in the Legal Update is current as of the date of publication, case law, statutes, and opinions change frequently. Therefore, officers should always consult their local prosecutor's office before applying any information found in the Update.

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Employees of any law enforcement agency may receive the Update via e-mail by submitting a request through our subscription page or by sending an e-mail to MSPLegal@michigan.gov. The e-mail must include the following information: name (first & last), rank, department, work phone, and e-mail address.

Legal Updates

Criminal Law: The Michigan Penal Code amended to repeal the crime of possession of a mechanical knife; Vehicle Code: The Michigan Vehicle Code amended to allow for the electronic display of motor vehicle registration; Vehicle Code: The Michigan Vehicle Code amended to expand the requirements for leaving an unattended vehicle on a highway.

Vehicle Code: A person may be prosecuted for operating while intoxicated in a place “generally accessible to motor vehicles” if the place is one that is usually capable of being reached by self-propelled vehicles; The Michigan Vehicle Code amended to remove the requirement that flashing, oscillating, or rotating lights on “authorized emergency vehicles” be mounted on the roof of a vehicle.

Search and Seizure: The implied license to approach a home and conduct a “knock and talk” is time sensitive and the police violated the Fourth Amendment when they trespassed on the defendants’ property in the predawn hours with the intent to gather information; Criminal Law: Michigan Penal Code amended to add the crime of aiming a beam of directed energy at an aircraft or train; Forfeiture: Public Health Code amended to eliminate forfeiture bond requirements; Back to the Basics: Reasonable suspicion is necessary to prolong an otherwise completed traffic stop.

Criminal Law: The Public Health Code amended to exempt certain individuals from prosecution for the possession or use of a controlled substance or a controlled substance analogue; Statutes: The Michigan Penal Code amended to add the offense of willfully and maliciously removing a collar or microchip from a dog with the intent to remove traceable evidence of the dog’s ownership.

Criminal Law: A homeowner or another person rightfully possessing a home after it has been foreclosed on and sold at a sheriff’s sale cannot be prosecuted for larceny in a dwelling house when he or she removes fixtures from the home during the statutory redemption period; Vehicle Code: A temporary registration plate that is not in a clearly visible position or in a clearly legible condition provides reasonable suspicion that MCL 257.225 is being violated.

Criminal Law: Once lawfully inside a "dwelling," a person cannot be prosecuted for home invasion for subsequently entering an interior room of the dwelling without permission; Vehicle Code: The portion of a person’s private driveway immediately next to his or her private residence is not a place "open to the general public" or a "place generally accessible to motor vehicles" for purposes of the Michigan Vehicle Code; Medical Marihuana: A person who smokes marihuana in his or her own car while parked in the parking lot of a private business that is open to the general public is not entitled to assert the immunity or defense provisions of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.

Criminal Law: Resisting and obstructing statute does not apply to reserve police officers; Did you Know? Vehicles manufactured as a golf cart or as an off road vehicle (ORV) cannot be modified and titled as an assembled vehicle for on-road use.

Legal Update No. 117 (07/15) Criminal Law: Amendments to the Firearms chapter of the Michigan
Penal Code related to firearms and pneumatic guns; Criminal Law: Amendments to the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act related to firearms and pneumatic guns; Statutes: Amendments to the definition of "firearm" found in the Firearms Act, the Revised Statutes of 1846, and the Death or Injuries from Firearms Act.

Statutes: Amendments to the Firearms Act Affecting Access to Firearms Records; Did you Know? Handcuffing a person unduly tight or excessively forceful is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Legal Update No. 111 (10/14) Search and Seizure: A police officer may frisk a suspect only if there is reasonable suspicion to believe the suspect is armed and dangerous.

Legal Update No. 110 (09/14) Vehicle Code: The mere presence of a towing ball attached to a vehicle which obscures or partially obscures the registration information on a registration plate is not a violation of the Michigan Vehicle Code.

Medical Marihuana: The protections of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act extend to a registered qualifying patient who internally possesses marihuana while operating a vehicle unless the patient is under the influence of marihuana; A registered qualifying patient is not entitled to immunity from arrest prosecution, or penalty under section 4 of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act for transferring marihuana to another registered qualifying patient. A registered primary caregiver is not entitled to immunity under section 4 of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act for transferring marihuana to anyone other than a registered qualifying patient connected to the caregiver through Michigan's registration process; Section 4 of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act does not provide a registered primary caregiver with immunity from arrest, prosecution, or penalty when growing marihuana collectively with other registered primary caregivers and registered qualifying patients; The definition section of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act was amended, including provisions for growing marihuana plants outdoors; The Michigan Penal Code amended to include restrictions on transporting usable marihuana in or upon a motor vehicle.

Criminal Law: Uncompensated transfers of marihuana between registered qualifying patients constitutes medical use of marihuana under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act; A person cannot be prosecuted under MCL 750.237 for constructive possession of a firearm while intoxicated in his or her own home.

Criminal Law: Michigan law prohibiting the possession of Tasers and stun guns is unconstitutional; The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act does not protect a person from arrest if the person's registry identification card is not reasonably accessible at the location of arrest.

Search and Seizure: The installation of a GPS tracking device onto a suspect's vehicle constitutes a search; Interview & Interrogation: Imprisonment alone does not constitute custody for purposes of Miranda

Attorney General Opinions: Law enforcement officers are not required to return marihuana to a registered patient or primary caregiver upon his or her release from custody; Vehicle Code: Authorized emergency vehicles

Public Health Code: Bath salts added to list of Schedule 1 controlled substances; Drug forfeiture funds may be used for any law enforcement purpose; Back to Basics: Michigan law does not prohibit citizens from recording police officers performing their duties.

Criminal Law: The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act does not permit the sale of marihuana; The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act requires the physician's statement occur before the illegal conduct in order for the affirmative defense to apply and in order for the person to be immune from arrest, prosecution, or penalty

Criminal Law: Prohibited use of tracking devices; downloading child pornography on a CD-R does not automatically mean manufacturing; searching for child pornography on the Internet may be possession; 11-Carboxy-THC is not a controlled substance; sexual contact includes touching for humiliation

Criminal Procedure: Forfeiture of improperly seized property Search & Seizure: Constructive entry Did You Know?: Authority of police to violate law Back to Basics: Police orders to have a person exit a vehicle

Criminal Procedure: Use of force in medical situations Search & Seizure: Abandoned property; Inventory of personal property; Post-fire searches Did You Know?: Open carry of a pistol, part II Back to Basics: Police-citizen encounters

Statutes: Libraries as drug free zones; Junk dealers; Embezzlement from a charity Did You Know?: Exceeding authority when executing a search warrant Back to Basics: Entering a residence to make an arrest

Statutes: Libraries as drug free zones; Junk dealers; Embezzlement from a charity Did You Know?: Exceeding authority when executing a search warrant Back to Basics: Entering a residence to make an arrest

Legal Update No. 40 (10/04) Evidence obtained in violation of Miranda; First confession without warning may taint second confession; Venue for prosecution is where the crime occurred; Taser law amended; Hazing law created.

Legal Update No. 37 (10/03) Emergency services providers may not detain an individual suspected of carrying a communicable disease; Officers may not initiate questioning when the Sixth Amendment is invoked; CSC fourth constitutes an assault for Home Invasion charges; District court judges may issue search warrants.

Legal Update No. 35 (08/03) False impersonation of a police officer statute rewritten; Registration violations are civil infractions; Assisting a subject does not automatically render liability; Statutory right to polygraph extends until the verdict; Eavesdropping charges may be brought against a subject who hides a camera in his own bedroom.

Legal Update No. 34 (07/03) Premeditation requires time for a second look; Officer's subjective reason for searching; No VIN exception to the search warrant rule; Accident scenes and the Fifth Amendment; Misconduct in office; The exclusionary rule.

Legal Update No. 32 (04/03) One count carjacking, two occupants; False police report may apply to false crime details; Charges for felony murder could be brought against a mother who left children in locked car; Forceful act must occur at the time of the taking for armed robbery; "Confessing to all charges would be in your best interest" is not a promise leniency; Zero tolerance violation may be used to enhance OUIL charge.

Legal Update No. 31 (03/03) Child sexually abusive material is rewritten: New definitions, New penalties; Operating a locomotive under the influence; CSC includes actions by teachers; Possession of counterfeit tax stamps for cigarettes requires knowledge that they are counterfeit.

Legal Update No. 30 (02/03) Conspiracy charges may still occur even if the police become involved; Statute on stun guns rewritten; Traffic stops may be based on reasonable suspicion and Officers do not have to "verbally" identify themselves; Possession of stolen car is a felony; CCW and DNR violations; Changes made in drug penalties.

Legal Update No. 29 (01/03) Statements obtained in violation of M.C.L. 764.27; Liability may occur where an officer makes an arrest after being insulted; Second warrant is needed to reenter property already searched; Raising an OUIL Causing Death to a charge of Second-Degree Murder; Receiving and concealing stolen property.

Legal Update No. 27 (08/02) Questioning during an OUIL investigation; Robbery charges require some type of force or violence; The "Castle Doctrine;" Open fields exception and protected curtilage; A prevailing claimant in a forfeiture action; Use of drugs is no defense to criminal activity unless it was a specific intent crime and the defendant had an unforeseeable reaction to medication or other legal substance.

Legal Update No. 26 (07/02) Resisting and obstructing, along with assault upon officers, now under new law MCL 750.81d; "Reasonable" assistance in locating witnesses for defense; What is needed for forceful entry into a house; Illegal possession of a controlled substance can be actual or constructive; The offense of Fleeing and Eluding does not require a certain speed or distance.

Legal Update No. 25 (06/02) Concealing or storing a stolen firearm can be considered a continuing offense; Reasonable suspicion is the proper standard for investigatory detentions; "Household" is an all-inclusive word for a family unit residing under one roof; Detainment for on-scene-identifications, or shows, may take such time that is reasonable.

Legal Update No. 24 (05/02) A bail Bondsmen can be liable for a false arrest; An inoperable vehicle is still considered mobile for the automobile exception to a search warrant; Soliciting minor for immoral purposes does not require knowledge of actual age; "New" procedures for search warrants; etc.

Legal Update No. 23 (03/02) Simple assault and battery becomes a 93 day misdemeanor; Domestic Relationships includes dating relationships; Officer may arrest for violation of personal protection orders issued from other states, Indian Tribes or United States Territory; It is not entrapment where the police do nothing more than present the defendant with the opportunity to commit the crime of which he was convicted;

Legal Update No. 22 (01/02) Charges of "felon in possession of firearm;" Authority of local officers deputized by the County Sheriff; Prisoners giving testimony in court cannot be shackled; Gross indecency; Proving the offense of "carrying a firearm while under the influence;" Felonious driving now applies to all places open to the general public.

Legal Update No. 21 (11/01) The "knock and talk" tactic is constitutional; The scope of consent; "No-Knock Warrant"; Euthanasia is not justifiable homicide; New Terrorism Legislation; Increased penalties for other violations.

Legal Update No. 20 (10/01) Legal impossibility is not a defense in Michigan; Increased penalties for Construction Zone Injuries; Increased penalties for traffic injuries to farm workers; An unauthorized driver of a rental car my have standing to challenge search; "Just shy of" reasonable suspicion to detain a motorist; "Assault Upon an Employee of a Place of Confinement"; Interest on returned forfeiture.

Legal Update No. 19 (08/01) Examining the exterior of an item without a search warrant; The crime a making a false police report; Lying does not constitute resisting and obstructing; Depositing money from a business transaction to a personal account; Sex Offender Registration includes youthful offenders; Delivery of controlled substance includes social sharing.

Legal Update No. 18 (07/01) Requirements when stopping CCW license holder; CCW Free Zones; Carrying "while under the influence"; Seizure of pistols; Notice of suspension; Impersonating an FIA worker; Assault upon FIA workers; Lacking knowledge of drug amount-no defense for a delivery charge, but may be a defense for a conspiracy charge.

Legal Update No. 17 (06/01) Thermal Imaging violates Fourth Amendment without search warrant; Rioting includes actions aimed at police officers; Entering a residence when it's believed that a person within is in need of immediate help; Failure to look at officers-one factor to establish reasonable suspicion; A juvenile's confession is admissible if the statement is voluntarily made.

Legal Update No. 16 (06/01) Failure to leave copy of affidavit; The "public safety" exception for Miranda; Felons in "possession of a firearm"; Statute of Limitations-Public Act 6 of 2001 MCL 767.24; Two parties drag racing-both are "involved" when an accident occurs.

Legal Update No. 15 (03/01) Uttering and publishing; Questioning a suspect after requesting an attorney; "Reasonable beliefs" to armed robbery; Unrecovered buy money; Knowing and voluntary waiver of Miranda rights; "Totality of the circumstances" in determining if a confession is admissible.

Legal Update No. 13 (01/01) First degree murder for killing a police officer; Retreat from one's porch; Pulling a telephone cord from the wall; Polygraph by a witness; Leaving a copy of an affidavit; Felony for training an animal to fight; CCW does not apply to double-edged knives.

Legal Update No. 11 (11/00) New law on sale of Nitrous Oxide; Increased penalties for Methamphetamine; Abandoned vehicles on trunklines; The authority of bordering states police officers; School officials can request vehicle info; Lawfully abandoning newborns; The smell of intoxicants may result in an investigatory detention; Gamma-Butyrolactone illegal for human consumption.

Legal Update No. 10 (10/00) Probable cause to issue a search warrant; Assault with intent to commit unarmed robbery is included in felony murder; Unarmed robbery charges; Statute of limitation when suspect lives in another state; Right to a jury for MIP trials; CSC 2nd degree.